


忘れないで

by mikochan_noda



Series: おかえり [8]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Canon Divergence, F/M, Family Feels, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied Haruno Sakura/Uchiha Sasuke - Freeform, Maternal Uchiha Sakura, Paternal Uchiha Sasuke, Wrote this as soon as I arrived home from watching that heart-wrenching movie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-15
Updated: 2017-12-15
Packaged: 2019-02-15 00:38:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13019580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mikochan_noda/pseuds/mikochan_noda
Summary: I sing a secret song to you, each night we are apart.(Coco,Recuérdame2017)





	忘れないで

**Author's Note:**

  * For [okashira](https://archiveofourown.org/users/okashira/gifts).



> Wrote it as soon as I got home! The Japanese translations aren’t as accurate as the original song, but I went with phonetics and romanticized interpretations instead. Still, corrections are very much appreciated! this work was published in Tumblr last 12/03/2017 [[LINK](http://lilmikomiko.tumblr.com/post/168115024200/)] and edited at 20171215

**i. _though i have to say goodbye_**

She was four when it happened.

Mama would always sit beside her, soothing the nocturnal terrors her mind would conjure.  

 _Their_ lullaby would always make her smile.

But that night, Mama just…held her.

Unnerved by the thick silence, she sang the only words she could recall.

「おぼえて、泣かないで」

“No. Don’t.”  Mama hushed, damp cheeks brushing against her forehead. “Please, Sa-chan.”

Haruno Sarada never asked Mama to sing again.

**ii. _for even if i’m far away_**

“You’re humming that again.”

Sarada paused on writing her notes, distracted. Chou-chan poked her cheek, her grin teasing.

“You always hum it when you’re frustrated.”

“Oh.”

“Mama…used to sing it to me.”

However, in her memories, it wasn’t sung in her mother’s dulcet voice. She could faintly hear the phantom wisps of the simple melody, brought to life with a deep, comforting tenor. A large, rough hand had always brushed the thin strands of her dark hair away from her forehead.   
  
And along with the song, it always, always made her feel safe.

“Oooh, it’s pretty! Maybe you can teach me!”

「いつも君のことおもっています」

“No. I was too young. So…”

Her smile, though they barely held her together, was always enough to fool everyone.  

“I forgot. Sorry.”

To her relief, Chou-chan’s curiosity ended with a bag of chips on her lap before discussing the questions that might come up in their mock exams.

**iii. _though i have to travel far_**

Haruno Sarada is always punctual.  

She arrives on meet-ups exactly on time. Her mission reports are submitted exactly two hours as required by the protocol. Events are even planned ahead and followed to the dot.

The Rokudaime told her that it was something that he always expected of her. But with his one-eyed gaze always looking past her, tainted with nostalgia, she could fairly guess who she reminded him of.

He....They never knew the real reason why she hates being late.

It's when Sarada returns home much later from her expected time of arrival, frequently finding her exhausted mother in unexpected places: A day late, she finds her sprawled on the office couch. A week gone, she will surely find her passed out on an ER gurney. And that one time, when she was already a month late from her expected time of arrival, she caught her poor mother asleep on a bench, out in public, waiting for her.

And _it_ happens, of course, that low whimpering, that small, unconscious sob that tells her that Mama was having a nightmare.

So Sarada tries the one thing that pacifies her to a dreamless sleep.

「毎回君はこの曲を聴きく」

**iv. _know that i’m with you, the only way that i can be_**

Haruno Sarada is a mednin specialist. A genjutsu expert. A former ANBU instructor.

A force to be reckoned with. A respected shinobi throughout the nations.

Today, On this bright spring day, she accepts a new title.

Konohamaru-sensei, The Ninth, declares her forward.

“Lady Tenth.”  

He settles the clasps of that prestigious white mantle on her collar, knowing that she can now bear the weight of the world on her shoulders.They are on top of a towering podium, surrounded by thousands. And Millions of people are now watching her inauguration, as she receives her hat like a queen receiving her well-earned crown.

After all the ceremonies end, her mentor, Uzumaki-shishou, pulls her aside, away from the surge of well-wishers that would come to her later.

Like her late mother, The Seventh has aged. The marks on his cheeks have faded, his face sallow. His golden hair has thinned and blended with silvers, and his hands are wrinkled and spotted. Sorrow wrapped around her like a blanket, as he embraced her with tears in his almost milky eyes

It reminds her so much of this newest pang of grief in her heart.

“Sarada-chan.” His voice shakes, but his smile remains.

“Ah, Hokage-sama.” Old habits are hard to change, but he doesn’t correct her as he merely hands her an envelope.

“Your mother. She would be very proud of you. And she said if you reached your dreams–”

 「もう一度, 抱きしめてまで」

 "–I’ll tell you about Sasuke. She said, you always wanted to know about him.“

She opens the flap and is greeted by a man in his twenties, dark eyes soft and gentle.

"Do you know your father wanted to become a Hokage too?”

He stands beside her laughing mother, carrying a wide-eyed infant daughter staring at him with wonder.

_Sarada,_

The writing was sharp and unfamiliar. Her chest aches, but this is different from the familiar numbness of being lost and lonely. 

She finally understands.  
  
The song returns, and she reads (sings) the first words of his letter.

_Remember me._


End file.
